Blackout
by often indecisive
Summary: Leon, Claire, and a broken down elevator.


Blackout

Leon's fingers tapped the elevator button; it pinged when he pressed it, and the lights on the elevator signalled it was coming down from the top floor to meet him. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, the small plastic bag in his hands rustling with each movement - glass bottles contained inside clashing together.

"Leon?" A soft, feminine voice called out from behind him, startling him a little. He spun around quickly to find a surprised but pleased looking Claire Redfield. A smile tugged on his lips at the sight of her; he found that always seemed to happen when he saw her. It was like some unknown reflex she brought out in him - he sees her, he smiles.

"Hey, Claire," He said warmly, eyes skimming over her features; auburn hair, pulled back into its usual ponytail, vivid blue eyes shining brightly, wearing a casual, V-neck beige sweater with the sleeves rolled up and drainpipe jeans that clung to her frame, revealing her none-too-subtle curves. She was beautiful, in his eyes. He briefly wondered if he'd ever find the courage to tell her he thought she was beautiful - most likely not.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, with friendly curiosity, coming to stand beside him. He turned back to face the elevator.

"I was just goin' up to see your bro, actually. Brought some beer," He told her, motioning to the bag in his hands. The said bottles inside clashed together again.

"Hmm, looks like we both have the same destination," Claire commented lightly, and Leon noted she was twirling a small package in her hands. She followed his gaze to it. "Chris' junk keeps getting delivered to _me_ all the time. It's getting really annoying," She explained, her brow furrowing gently, jaw setting in that tell-tale sign of irritation. Leon had to work not to smile at that; something about her anger made her seem endearing, like an angry kitten.

Claire mimicked his previous actions, shifting her weight from foot to foot as they both waited for the elevator to get to their floor - Chris' apartment building was old, and the electrical cables were worn, meaning the elevator was deathly slow. Leon was cautiously aware of how close Claire was standing; he could literally feel the heat coming off her uncovered arms.

Finally, the elevator reached their floor, the rusted old doors creaking open.

"Ladies first," Leon said in the most gentlemanly voice he could muster, one arm encouraging her to enter the lift. Claire chuckled as his attempt at chivalrous behaviour, and entered. Leon followed suit a second afterward, leaning over to tap the button that would take them to Chris' floor. The doors closed, leaving the two in dim light.

"So, what do you think's in the package?" Leon asked, in an attempt to start a conversation and distract himself from how close Claire was to him.

"Oh, I dunno, probably something porn related, knowing Chris," Claire chuckled, and the two laughed together. The laughter died down after a few seconds, and silence befell upon the two, whilst they rode the spluttering elevator up to Chris' floor.

Leon took to shifting his weight again, whilst Claire blew out a gust of air that swirled around the small box-like elevator. The elevator seemed to be going at a crawling pace, chugging pathetically upwards, and the silence between the two was bordering on awkward.

The elevator gave a sudden jolt, the light bulb inside flickering on and off.

"Whoa, what the hell was that?" Claire yelped, the jolt causing both her and Leon to be unsteady on their feet. She fell sideways into him, holding onto him for support.

"Uh… I don't know," Leon replied, steadying both himself and Claire. Her touch left a tingling sensation on his arm, which he found both pleasant an unnerving.

"You don't think the elevator cables are gonna break, do you?" Claire asked, panic evident in her voice. She knew how old the building was, and was terrified at the prospect of falling to her death in an old elevator.

"No, no. I don't think they're gonna break, I think they're probably just worn a little." Leon said, trying to calm her down. He could see the terror on her face, and the last thing he wanted was for her to have a panic attack.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Claire agreed, most likely to console herself as the elevator resumed it's spluttering journey. She forced herself to calm down; the last thing she wanted was to freak out in front of Leon.

"Don't worry, we're almost there," Leon told her, pointing above the elevator doors where it indicated which floor they were on. True enough, they were only three floors away from their destination. If the elevator hadn't been so damn slow, they would have been there by now.

Suddenly, the elevator jolted again, and came to a spluttering, chugging stop.

"What the hell?" Leon said as the jolt made him stumble backwards against the wall. Claire gasped and braced herself again.

"I thought you said the cables weren't broken?" She accused him, fear gripping her again. Leon didn't answer at first; he straightened himself up, and leaned over to jab one of the buttons. It didn't light up with his touch, or make any sound to indicate he had even touched it. He glanced above the doors: there was no light telling them which floor they were on, either.

"They're not. The power's out." He told her.

"It is?" Claire breathed a sigh of relief to that; it meant that they weren't going to fall to their deaths. "But why is the light still working?"

"Most likely battery powered," He informed her, glancing up at it.

"Oh. Well, what do we do now?" Claire asked with a slight pout. The initial fear and shock were gone, and she now realised she was stuck in an elevator.

"We wait for the power to come back on, I guess," Leon said lamely, not quite knowing what else to say. He glanced back at Claire; her hands were on the back of her neck, and she was rolling her head back and forth, eyes closed.

"How long do you think that'll be?" Claire asked, cracking one blue eye open to glance at him. He shrugged.

"No idea. Not too long, I shouldn't think. This place has gotta have some sort of back-up generator, or something like that. Power should be back on soon, hopefully. 20 minutes at most," He said, with a convincing nod, sure he was right.

"Don't you think someone would have come looking for us by now?" Claire whined, three hours after the initial power cut, as she sat on the hard, rough carpet of the elevator floor, her head resting against the wall. It was hot in there. It was stuffy in there. And, more importantly, there was a shirtless Leon in there. Claire felt like she was going to boil, and not in just one way.

"I dunno… it wasn't like anyone was expecting us, was it?" Leon replied as he leaned against the wall on the other side opposite her, seeming aloof and casual - as though being trapped in the claustrophobic box with Claire wasn't bothering him. When in fact, unknown to her, he was squirming just as much as she was. It had become extremely hot in there, what with their combined body heat and the A.C not working, so Leon had removed his shirt, feeling sweat trickling down the back of his neck. The air was getting stuffy, and he could smell Claire's unique scent; the air was saturated with it. Every slight movement she would make would send a stronger whiff of it to him, making him feel like his blood was boiling. He was pretty sure that you could cut the sexual tension with a knife - he had caught her giving him the once over, and had to stop himself from grinning egotistically. _That _definitely wouldn't have helped the situation.

"What do you mean? I thought you were heading up to Chris'?" Claire demanded with a frown.

"Well, yeah… but he wasn't expecting me. It was just gonna be a surprise visit, y'know?" Leon explained sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. It certainly wouldn't have been much of a visit now. The two had drunk most of the cold beers he had brought, before they went warm, the empty bottles now sitting in the bag.

"What? You mean _no one's _expecting you? No one's gonna come looking?" Claire seethed, clenching her in anger. Leon held his hands up.

"Hey, hey! I didn't exactly expect to get stuck in an elevator, so cut me some slack, please," He requested, not wishing for the atmosphere in the box to change to anger… although, it _was _a better alternative to what it currently was; Leon felt as though he was roasting alive.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I just wanna get out of this damn elevator…" She said, calming down. She felt instantly guilty; it wasn't Leon's fault the power had gone out, and snapping at him would do no good. But the tension was driving her crazy. She was resisting the undeniably strong urge to crawl over to Leon and run her hands up and down his stomach, to feel the muscles beneath the skin. She couldn't keep her eyes on him for long, in fear she would begin to drool.

"Hey, it's okay. I wanna get outta here, too," He told her. _Though for an entirely different reason,_ he wanted to add, pegging her wanting to escape due to the overwhelming feeling of claustrophobia. What little he knew.

"So… wanna play twenty questions to pass the time till we get outta here?" She asked innocently.

"Sure," Leon agreed, although he could think of something else he'd rather be doing to pass the time… No. He wasn't allowed thoughts like that, especially not trapped in an elevator with the girl in question. He shook his head to rid the thoughts from his mind. "You start." Claire grinned.

"Okay. Umm… Europe or South America?" Leon pondered for a moment; it was a good question, and a good distraction.

"Hmm… I'd have to say Europe." He answered, and Claire giggled.

"I had a feeling you'd say that. Okay, my turn for a question," Leon smiled at her; she was cute when she giggled, he mused. He vowed to make her do it more often.

"Okay… dog or cat?"

"Cat." Leon grinned.

"Knew you'd say that," Claire smirked.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah."

"Okay… sweet foods, or salty snacks?"

"Salty snacks, definitely," Leon replied, his mind drifting to the left over lasagne he had sitting in his fridge. Twenty questions turned out to be a good idea; the idle chit chat was distracting them both, and was helping to ease the tension a little.

"Hehe. Who would have guessed it. I would have thought you to be the guy with a secret sweet tooth," Claire commented, and Leon grinned. Oh, he had a sweet tooth alright…

"Okay, beer or wine?" He asked, desperate to keep his thoughts in check.

"Beer. Speaking of which, we got any left?" Leon checked in the bag; there was one beer left.

"Yeah, one left. It's probably warm, though," He told her, taking it out. Yep, it was warm.

"Doesn't matter, I'm really thirsty," She said. Leon nodded, and leaned over on his knees to hand her the beer.

Simultaneously, as he leaned over the give her the beer, a drop of sweat trickled down her neck. Time seemed to stand still at that moment; his eyes fixed on that droplet. It travelled lithely over her pale skin, leaving a trail in its wake. Leon wasn't in control of his actions any longer - he leaned close to her and licked the drop right off her neck, tasting the mix of saltiness and what could only be described as Claire. He realised what he had done about half a second later, his eyes widening in shock as he slowly pulled back in fear of what he would see in her eyes. But, to his surprise, and delight, he was met with something unexpected.

As he pulled back to look at her, blue eyes meeting blue eyes, he saw her eyes were not filled with disgust, or horror as he expected, but instead, they were filled with need, and desire. One breath exhaled from her and blew over his face - her catalyst - and the next thing he knew, he was being pulled against her, lips, tongues and teeth clashing in a passionate, needing kiss.

The beer bottle slipped from his hands, clattering to the floor and rolling away as the two kissed. Leon was taken completely by surprise at first, but found himself suddenly melting at the feel of her lips against his, and was returning her kiss in no time. His fingers slid into her auburn hair, prying it loose from it's ponytail. It fell silkily between his fingers and he twisted a few locks around them. _Claire's_ hands, however, were busy getting acquainted with Leon's torso, feeling over his abs, touching his smooth skin. The feeling was extremely pleasant for Leon, and he didn't want her to stop. It left warm tingles wherever she touched.

Tentatively, Leon slid his tongue over Claire's lower lip, silently asking for access. She gasped slightly, shocked at the sudden action, but otherwise let him in. Their tongues danced as the fiery desires that had been building up between the two during their hours cramped in the tiny elevator were released. Leon could feel his hands slipping down her shoulders in an attempt to push her sweater off, and he was all too aware of her hands creeping towards his belt buckle…

As if raining on their sudden found pleasure, the elevator wheezed, the buttons pinging to indicate they were back to life, and the elevator continued its journey upwards. The two broke apart, both breathing heavily. Leon stared into Claire's lust-lidded eyes as he rested his forehead against hers, every breath she took pushing her chest against his as he leaned over her.

"What was that?" Claire managed to whisper.

"I think the power just came back on," He told her, almost begrudgingly. Claire chuckled, catching it in his tone.

"Quite the timing, eh?" She said, jokingly, as the elevator reached their destination floor. The doors creaked open, and Leon sighed, standing up and picking up the bottle from the floor, his shirt and the bag. Claire did the same with Chris' package, and quickly put her hair back up into its ponytail. The two glanced at each other once before both stepping out into the hall. The doors closed behind them, and Claire turned to give Leon a grin.

"Well, that was interesting, considering I was stuck in an elevator for God knows how long," Claire quipped, a seductive sort of grin on her face.

"Yeah…" Leon said stupidly; it wasn't his fault, he really didn't know what else to say when there was a certain redhead teasing him about a make-out session they just had. She giggled.

"Well, you coming or what?" She asked, and walked off to Chris' apartment to give him his package. Leon stared after her, unable to stop himself from watching the way her hips swayed when she walked…

Damn.

Well, there was always the ride down.

END


End file.
